Combined truck and workbench



F. D. CARRE. COMBINED TRUCK AND WORKBENCH.

APPLICATION HLED JULY 22.192].-

Patented Sept. 26; 1922 muninm Fllll'llllll Patented Sept. 2%, i922.

FRANCIS D. GARRE, OF BIOCKFORD, ILLINOIS.

COMBINED TRUCK AND WORKBENCH.

Application filed July 22,

To all '10 710mv it may concern Be it known that I, FniNois D. Gama), a citizen of the United States, residing at Rockford, in the count-y of Winnebago and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Trucks and Workbenches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains in general to equipment especially adapted for machine shops, factories and the like, in which it is necessary to move the work pieces from one station to another at which it is desired to perform different working operations or to handle the work in one form or another.

The primary object, therefore, of the present invention is to provide a combined truck and work bench of simple and novel con-- struction particularly adapted for use in factories and other places in which work benches are necessary and the nature of the work makes it desirable to move the work from station to station. By utilizing the work bench as the means of transportation, a considerable saving of time and labor is effected.

Another object of my invention is to pro vide a low wheel-mounted truck which may be moved about after the fashion of the. ordinary truck and which is equipped with legs normally disposed in an inoperative position and adapted to be lowered onto the floor and operated to elevate the truck proper to the elevation of the conventional. work bench, thereby quickly converting the truck into an ordinary work bench.

A. further object is to provide a combined truck and work bench in which the legs for supporting the bench are normally concealed within posts which are utilized for pushing the truck about. These legs are preferably equipped with rack faces all of which are connected with a single operating means, whereby the operator simultaneously move all of the legs with respect to the bench proper for raising and loweringthe latter.

Other objects and attendant advantages will be appreciated by those familiar with this art as the invention becomes better understood by reference to the following de scription when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which Figure l is a side elevation partly in vertical section on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2 of a combined truck and work bench embodying 1921. Serial No. 486,915.

invention, showing it in the bench position;

Fig. 2, a bottom view of the truck;

F 1g. 3, a detail sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Flg. 1, a detail section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3.-

The work bench and truck body proper may be of any suitable or preferred con- StIiLlClllOll, and in the present instance comprises side sills 6 and 7 joined by end boards and by top boards 11, thus forming a rectangular platform-table structure well suited both for trucking purposes and as a work bencln This platform-table may be wheelsupported in any suitable manner, and in the present instance I have provided a pair of wheels 12 mounted on a shaft 13 centrally journaled on the platform table by bearings 14. A caster wheel 15 is provided at each end of the platform-table. Four upstanding corner posts 16 are rigidly mounted on the plat form-table and are preferably of hollow constructlon to accommodate the legs for supporting the platform table in the workbench position, as will be presently described. At present, these posts are tubular in form and are suitably bolted to the platform-table. It will be manifest that these corner posts serve as very convenient handles for pushing the truck about upon the floor indicated by dotted lines 17 and that they also serve the purpose of the usual truck posts, that is to say, as a means for retaining and holding a pile'of goods against displacement upon the truck.

Within each post is slidable lengthwise,

a bench-supporting leg 18, which has raclc teeth 19 along one face. The pair of legs at each end of the pl atform-table are connected at their upper and lower ends respectively, by tie rods 21 and 22, each of which iiicludes a turn buckle 23 for vertically aligning the legs and for holding them in predetermined relative relation. The upper tie rods 21 pass through longitudinal'slots 2-1- in the posts 16. Said pairs of bench-supporting legs are connected beneath the bench or platform-table by longitudinal tie rods 25, likewise including turn buckles 26 for securing the proper alignment. It will be manifest that with the bench-supporting legs connected in this manner they may be vertically moved in the post 16 in unison from a con- .cealed position therein indicated. in dotted lines in Fig. 1, to the full-line position shown, in which the legs rest on the floor and serve to support the platform-table in an elevated work-bench position.

Any suitable means may be provided for raising and lowering the legs with respect to the bench or platform table, and in the pres ent instance I employ a system of gearing operated from the single hand crank 27, although it should be understood that any power means might be employed instead of hand power, in the event that the bench and truck is made in large sizes for exceptionally heavy work. In the present example, however, this system of gearing comprises spur gears 28 meshing with the racks 19 on the legs at one end of the truck and spur pinions 29 meshing with the racks at the opposite end of the truck, cross shafts 31 and 32 journaled by means of bearings 33 on the underside of the truck proper and upon which the gears 28 and 29 are respectively fixedly mounted, worm gears 3i and 35 fixed respectively to the shafts 31 and 32, and worms 36 and 37 meshing with the worm gears '34 and35 respectively and fixed to a longitudi; nal shaft 38 journaled on the platform-table by means of bearings 41. The hand crank 27 is fixed to the longitudinal shaft 38 and the worms 36 and 37 are right and left hand, so that upon turning the hand crank in one di rection all of the bench-supporting legs 18 will be raised in unison, and upon reversing the drive they will be lowered in unison.

I will be manifest therefore, from the foregoing, that by turning the crank 27, the platform-table may be raised from its position 011 the floor in which it serves as an ordinary truck, to an elevated position in which it is supported in a very stable and substantial manner by the legs 18 and serves the purpose of a work bench. The supporting legs will be locked in any position to which they have been moved by reason of the worm gears in the driving train employed for raising and lowering the bench or platform-table. Thus, my invention provides for quickly converting a truck into a work bench and vice versa, and it will be manifest that a construction of this kind is especially serviceable and desirable in factories in which the work must be transported from one station to another at each of which successive operations are performed on the work. The invention is, however, not limited to this particular use, but is especially Well adapted to suit the varying conditions and requirements of different manufacturing methods in which a construction of the character described may be utilized.

It is believed that the foregoing conveys a clear uinlerstainling of the objects prefaced above, and while I have described but a single working embodiment, it should be understood. that various changes might be made in details of construction without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims, in whicl I claim:

1. A combined truck and work bench comprising a platform-table, carrying wheels therefor, and means carried by the platformtable for raising the same to a work bench position and for lowering it to a truck p0 sition.

2. A. combined truck and work bench C0111- prising a wheel-supported platform-table, supporting legs therefor, and means for simultaneously moving the legs with respect to the platfornrtable for raising and lowering the latter to convert the same into a truck and work bench, respectivel 3. A combined truck and. work bench comprising a wheel-supported platform-table, u pright corner posts thereon, a leg vertically movable in each post, and means for raising and lowering the legs with respect to the 1i)latform-tal; le for convertingthe same into a truck and work bench, respectively.

4. A combined truck and work bench c01nprising a platform-table, carrying wheels therefor, a leg at each corner of the platforintable vertically adjustable with respect thereto, and means for raising and lowering said legs for converting the platform-table into a truck and work bench, respectively.

5. The combination of a rectangular platform-table, carrying wheels therefor, an upright post fixed to each corner of the platform table, a supporting leg vertically slidably associated with each post and having a rack face, a pinion meshing with each rack, and means for revolving said pinioiis o raise and lower said legs with respect to the platform-table.

6. The combination of a rectangular platform-table, carrying wheels therefor. an upright post fixed to each corner of the plat form ta-ble, a supporting leg vertically slidably associated with each post and having a rack face, a pinion meshing with each rack, a cross shaft at each end of the platfori table to which shaft the pinions are fixed, a worm gear on each cross shaft, a longitudinal shaft having worms in mesh with said worm gears, and means for revolving said worm shaft, whereby to simultaneously raise and lower said legs with respect to the platform-table.

FRANCIS D. CARRE. 

